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Topic: Is this good mold? (Read 826 times)

Hello everyone. I've been using the recipe in this thread http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,1591.0.html to make a basic tomme. I'm very much learning. Not satisfied with the rind development, and wanting to quash the abundance of blue mold that was growing on my cheeses, I decided to puree some Comte rind in a light brine and wash the cheeses. I "think" it looks good, the white mold being Geo maybe? There are still hints of blue mold but I do my best to keep it at bay by brushing every other day. I guess I'm posting this to see if the progress looks good to others with experience. Any input would be appreciated as I'm only going by what seems best to encourage good mold and weed out the bad.

You can see from the picture that there's an abundance of white mold with specs of blue in the crevices. I understand that part of the problem is because I didn't get a good knit so the surface is rough. Am I proceeding correctly by just brushing off these bits? In the beginning I was using vinegar and salt to remove them but I've stopped doing that. The cheese pictured here has been aging for about 2 weeks.

This will probably make a number of people scream and rant at the screen "you WHAT???!!!", but ...

When I had a bad knit on something so that it started getting blue mold in every single little bitty crevice and there was no WAY I'd be able to get it all out, I remembered the cheeseforum adage "blue doesn't like to get its feet wet". So I would dab a little water (or wash, if it was a washing cheese) into the crevices to make a teensy weensy little puddle. I'd leave it there for a day or two and then dab/dry off whatever remained of the puddles. The blue drowned and never came back.

Yeah, I do something similar, but when I dab (with a toothpick) into those crevices, I'm using a vinegar & salt solution to more actively ferret out the errant blue. Then I dry the solution off the cheese.

I was reading more last night and came across Alp's guidelines for washing cheese, actually creating a paste on the cheese while washing to help smooth out the rind and fill in some crevices. This cheese has been aging for two weeks, but I was thinking of starting to wash it again with this purpose in mind. Any idea what effect this would have? I'll try it anyway, but thought I'd ask.

The more I learn about this process, the more I realize that after following all the guidelines and suggestions I can find, in the end I just have to try things that seem to make sense and then fix or live with any mistakes!

Kev, I'm giving you a cheese for that realisation. I've been watching this post with avid attention, as I've a three-week-old cheshire that has a few surface cracks developing blue. I've half-heartedly brine washed it a couple of times but I'm going to do a proper job today, I think.